Ship of fools

[Clodfobble]

she bought an apartment for almost $300,000 with a 15-year mortgage.

I thought Muslim countries were morally opposed to interest-charging loans? Maybe they don't mind as long as you're only giving mortgages to infidel foreigners...

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I thought Muslim countries were morally opposed to interest-charging loans? Maybe they don't mind as long as you're only giving mortgages to infidel foreigners...

Did it say she was paying interest? Could just be time payments, but since Dubai is(was) unlike the rest of the area, she might be paying interest.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

I thought Muslim countries were morally opposed to interest-charging loans? Maybe they don't mind as long as you're only giving mortgages to infidel foreigners...

Religiously they are -- and they're running up against the same problem for business and dealings that Christianity religious prohibition against charging interest posed to Christian commerce.

We revised our views of interest-charging and got the Renaissance going. Islam needs to do the same thing, and then it can really use its capital without the clumsy workarounds they presently employ if they're bowing deeply enough to Sharia law. Many of them have already made their peace with interest. It'd adhere to the spirit of the law if care were taken to keep interest rates minimized insofar as possible. The religious prohibitions were intended to remedy not so much charging interest as charging excessive interest. I wouldn't say they worked as intended.